Adds valuable authenticity to the brand’s history- the Captain really existed and isn’t some fictitious character dreamed up by an ad agency

The event comes with an inbuilt sense of an adventure- it’s a deep sea treasure hunt, that again adds to the brand

It creates valuable content- brands are now searching for content streams to fill their social networks- so doing something interesting like this, probably beats a community manager Tweeting about a grocery store promotion

It’s not advertising- it’s a real event that gives credibility to the brand

Of course, Diageo have the power to turn this into something, as Tom Hebst, Brand Director of Captain Morgan explained to Business Week

“The rum and fun nights out are a search for buried treasure, you get together with your crew and embark on the night and never know what you’re going to find, and on the best nights you uncover those hidden secrets and gems that make stories that define you and your friends for the rest of your life.”

This effort is a nice reminder that brands need to think about the breadth of opportunities available to them and try to evaluate not only how “on brand” they are, but also understand the depth of potential they have to create compelling content across the marketing mix.